As the Lily Grows
by GryffindorCriss
Summary: Set after "Unfair". Johnny and Mavis' family have to deal with the newest addition being human; not just that, but their other kids are growing up too. Johnny/Mavis. I suggest reading "A-Z of a Life" and "Unfair" first.
1. Early Starts

Early Starts

"Wow... Mommy, is she tiny? Was I tiny too?... Hey, Lu! I can't see! Move your butt!"

"Mina, be quiet. You might wake her up."

"Hey, don't tell me to be quiet! Mommy, Daddy, Jack told me to be quiet!"

"Well, be quiet!"

"Lu! You're not my Mom, so you can't tell me either!"

"Look, if any of you wake her up then you won't be allowed to Grandpa's hotel next month!"

The three children stared at Mavis in horror.

"But Mom-"

"Mommy-"

"Come on guys, no fighting: Mommy's real tired after having the baby," Johnny interrupted, putting an arm around the three of them. "You need to be really nice to her and not argue - besides, you can't wake Lily up, can you?"

Mina shook her head while Jack and Lucy just sighed. "I guess not," Jack admitted grudgingly - but as he peered at the baby his eyes still lit up with undisguised interest. "She _does_ look rather tiny, Dad - I'm pretty sure Mina wasn't that small when she was born."

"Maybe she's just small," Johnny suggested, grinning down at his youngest child. "Aren't you, Lily?"

Lily made no movements, continuing to stare up at them with wide eyes. By now her eyes had turned a dark shade of chocolate brown - presumably from Johnny's side of the family - and there was no doubting which parent she was taking after physically at the moment.

Lucy made a cooing noise. "Oh, she's so cute...I want one..."

Mavis sent her a rather sharp look. "Not yet you don't."

"What's it like?" Jack asked suddenly, giving his father a curious look. "Having a baby that's...human. Surely you and Mom are...I mean, she's going to grow up quickly-"

"Yeah," The red-haired man agreed, not looking up from the baby. "It is. To be honest, though, she's not much different from you guys - we're not thinking about the future yet, you know?"

Mina gave an annoyed sound and it was only then that Johnny realized she was still too short to get a proper look at the baby. Laughing, he picked her up in his arms so that she would have a good view and held her close to him; after everything that had been happening lately, he wanted nothing more than to keep his family close to him.

"Oh, wow!" Mina exclaimed, beaming down at the baby. "She doesn't look so squishy anymore!"

Jack raised an eyebrow. "Squishy?"

She nodded seriously. "Yeah! A few days ago her face was all weird and she looked like a toy that you can squeeze - now she looks like an actual baby!"

Lucy and Jack sent each other looks of amusement and dismay, clearly not sure what to say about this description of their youngest sister.

"Anyway," Lucy started, deciding a change in subject was needed. "You guys should get some sleep, shouldn't you? I mean, I'm sure we can handle looking after Lily for a few hours while you guys get some rest."

Mavis raised an eyebrow at her eldest daughter. "As much as I love you three... _Yeah. Right_. As if I'm leaving you three in charge of a new-born baby."

All three of the children looked quite offended by such a comment but didn't argue any further. "Fine," Lucy relented defeatedly. "But you guys still need to sleep - I mean, if Lily needs you then I'm sure she'll let you know."

_Oh. _Johnny and Mavis both grimaced at that thought.

* * *

When Jack woke up the next morning, the first thing he heard was yelling.

"Oh for..." He pushed himself out of bed and stormed out into the hallway: his parents were standing there, both looking rather angry - Jack could only guess that they had been arguing or something. "Hello?!" He snapped tiredly. "I thought you guys were done arguing!"

"We are," Johnny said, looking rather annoyed.

"We're not," Mavis agreed, rolling her eyes as she held a gurgling Lily against her chest. "But your Dad is-"

At that moment, Lucy stormed out into the hallway, giving her parents rather harsh glares. "Look, I don't care what you guys say!" She announced, pulling on a jumper as she left her bedroom. "He's my boyfriend, and if I want to go and see him then I will!"

_Oh for God's sake._

"This is about seeing Freddie?" Jack asked in disbelief, not quite sure whose side he was on. "Really?"

Johnny gave an annoyed sigh. "Lu, for the last time: you saw him a couple of nights ago! You don't need to see him every minute of the day!"

Lucy turned her nose up at him, folding her arms stubbornly. "Oh, I'm _so_ sorry that I wanted to go and see my _zing_ tonight. Besides, you were actually okay with it until I told you we were having dinner together later on."

Mavis and Jack just had to look at each other to realize that they were having the same thoughts.

"You're only a hundred and four," The red-haired man mumbled loudly. "I just don't think that it's right for you and him to go out yet, seeing as he's a hundred and thirty-"

"Oh, that's rich coming from you!" Lucy snarled viciously. "There are _ninenty seven_ years between you and Mom - twenty six is practically nothing compared to that!"

Johnny opened his mouth before closing it again, speechless by this. Finally, he straightened up and gave her a hard look. "You're _not_ going to the hotel to see him, and that's that."

The eldest child gave a loud noise of anger. "This is so unfair!" She practically screeched - this resulted in Lily starting to wail again against Mavis' chest. "You used to be so fun and stuff, Dad, but now...now you're turning into a giant _dick_!"

Jack's mouth fell open, and Mavis gave a gasp of shock. "Lucy Martha!" She scolded, quite outraged. "You know what, I _was_ going to try and convince your Dad to let you go but after that you can stay home tonight."

"Fine," The red-haired girl muttered, storming back into her bedroom; she slammed the door behind her, and they could soon hear her crying.

Jack looked between his parents, not quite sure what to say. "You know, Dad, I don't see why you couldn't have just let her go."

"He's older than her," Johnny stated, almost delirious with rage. "I mean...he could...she's so young still...what if..."

Mavis tutted him, shaking her head and sending him a pointed look. "They're _zings_, Johnny: Freddie wouldn't hurt her at all."

"Yeah, and Freddie wouldn't hurt _anyone_," Jack agreed, nodding in agreement. "Let alone Lu."

Johnny looked as if he was going to argue back, but after a few seconds he slumped on the spot and rubbed at the back of his neck guiltily. "I dunno... I just don't want her getting hurt or anything."

_Well, this is where I should be going so that they can talk privately._ Jack coughed awkwardly. "I'm going to go and get dressed," He decided, making sure to be loud so that his parents would hear him.

When he had gone, Johnny and Mavis just looked at each other.

"I don't want her getting hurt," Johnny repeated defensively.

Mavis sent him a small smile. "I know. Neither do I. But I trust him - he reminds me of you, actually, what with how clumsy and adorable he is around her." She put her free hand on his arm. "Johnny, by not letting her go you're kind of just doing the same thing that my Dad did to me when we met."

"Why are you always right?" Her husband muttered, but he gave a nod. "Fine. I'll give her a minute, though, so that she calms down."

"Great," Mavis told him, shifting Lily in her arms. "Look, I need to go for a shower; while you wait for Lu to calm down, could you make feed Lily? I have no idea what human babies eat anyway, so..."

He grinned at her, taking the baby off of her. "Don't worry about it: you'll get there eventually."

* * *

Mina frowned as she looked at Lily, who was currently being fed by Johnny.

"She doesn't do a lot," She muttered to Johnny and Mavis from where she was lying on the floor, staring up at them with bored eyes. "I thought babies were cute and played games."

"They do," Mavis assured her, a small laugh threatening to escape from her as she took in her daughter's confused face. "But you have to wait until they get older."

"Oh." Mina blew a stray piece of hair away from her face. "When can she play then?"

Mavis looked at Johnny - after all, he was the ex-human and therefore more qualified to answer that question. "Only about a year," He guessed. "I dunno, really...been a long while since I was around human kids."

The dark-haired girl gazed at the baby intensely, waiting until she'd finished her bottle to speak again. "Can I hold her then, Daddy? I'll be really careful, I promise!"

Johnny looked to Mavis, seeing what she thought: she just smiled and gave a nod. "Alright," He agreed, and Mina jumped up to sit on the couch next to them. "So, just move your arms like that...see, you've gotta support her head like that, or it'll flop... There we go!"

Mina could only look down at her little sister with wide eyes, somewhat transfixed by the very thought that she was actually holding a _real_ baby (as opposed to a doll or toy, of course). "Daddy? Can I say something to her?"

When he nodded, Mina cleared her throat and looked down at Lily again. "Hey," She greeted, voice suddenly tiny in comparison to her usual hyperactive one. "So, you don't really know me and I don't really know you... In fact, at the minute you're kinda boring. But Mommy and Daddy say that one day you'll be more fun. Anyway, I guess what I really wanted to say was...well..." She bit her lip, leaning down closer to whisper to her sister. "I know that you're gonna be human, so you're gonna be weaker than the rest of us. But don't worry, 'cause I'll make sure that none of the mean kids at the hotel pick on you when we go."

Lily gazed up at her with wide eyes and, if Mina didn't know any better, then she would have believed that her little sister was saying 'thank you' in her own way.

**Hello! Welcome to the newest addition to my Hotel Transylvania tales! :D **

**This story will be like "A-Z" in the sense that it won't follow a particular timeline - so one chapter Lily could be an adult and the next she could be a child. It's easier because I can write whatever I feel like when I want to.**


	2. Words

Words

Lucy beamed at her youngest sister, bending down so that she was on level with the baby's high chair, and took a deep breath. "Come on, Lils: all you've got to do is say my name as your first word."

"No way," Jack snorted, not looking up from his book on human babies. "Like she'll say _yours_ - _you_ are always with your boyfriend."

Mina sent them both rather nasty looks. "She'll say mine because I'm the youngest out of the three of us and she likes me better."

They girls turned to look at Lily intensely, waiting for her to say something: instead, the baby hiccupped and banged her plastic spoon against her bowl of food, causing them both to sigh in despair.

"Good night to you guys too," Johnny yawned, walking into the kitchen and immediately heading for the cupboard to get some food. "What're we arguing about this morning, guys?"

"Lily's first words," Mina informed him before turning back to her siblings. "Look, I'll show you.. Lily! Say my name!"

Lily just looked at her, gurgling for a moment before banging her hands on the table happily.

The two girls sighed in defeat. "I thought you said she was going to start talking soon, Dad," Lucy stated accusingly, sending a confused look to her father. "She's a year old now, and you said that's close to what a six year old monster would be like."

"She should be talking soon," Jack interjected, looking somewhat exhausted his sisters' attempts to get their youngest sister to talk. "_All _babies learn in their own time, you know."

"Yeah, unless she can't talk," Mina interjected brightly.

Everyone in the kitchen froze up, slowly turning to look at her: they were all so surprised and shocked by such an announcement that it took a moment for anyone to say anything.

"What do you mean?" Johnny questioned her, hurriedly sitting down in-between her and Lily with some cereal in his hand.

The girl just shrugged. "Some kids can't talk, can they? Maybe 'cause that witch put a spell on her, so then Lily can't either."

"That's awful," Lucy told her, looking quite horrified by such a suggestion - but then she turned to Johnny with a worried expression on her face. "That wouldn't really happen, would it? Surely no one is _that_ cruel."

"No," Johnny agreed hurriedly, although his eyes had widened and he looked terrified all of a sudden. "She's just...we need to wait. It's gonna take some time, alright?"

* * *

"Aha!"

"What?" Mavis asked, looking up from her magazine with faint interest. Jack even raised his eyes from his novel, looking at his older sister.

Lucy grinned at her mother proudly. "She can nearly say my name: she nearly said, 'Lu' just now, and I _know_ she can say, 'see' if she tried...all she needs to do is put the two together."

"Rabies..." Jack muttered under his breath, turning back to his book quickly.

The older vampire shook her head, utterly dismayed by the clearly competitive nature her family was taking on. "You know, I think it's more likely that's she'll say something like, "Mama" or "Dada", Lu."

"Yeah, but...what about mine?" Lucy questioned, suddenly sounding a lot younger than she really was. "Mom, I'm her oldest sister! I mean, she's got another one _and_ a brother, I know, but I'm the absolute oldest - surely I'm special, right?"

"Yes," Mavis agreed, quite amused by this behaviour. "You're all going to be special to her; I just don't understand why you all want her first word to be one of your names."

"Because it would be adorable!" Her eldest daughter stated just as Mina entered the room with a selection of toys in her arms. Jack and Lucy stared at her in disbelief. "Please tell me you're kidding."

Mina gave a sharp laugh. "Nope. Hey, Lily!" She cooed, sitting down next to her baby sister. "Here, you can have some of my toys...all you've gotta say is, 'Mina'. Can you say that? _Mee-Na._"

Lily innocently blinked, giggling to herself a second later when no one said anything.

"I think she thinks you're nuts," Jack snorted.

His younger sister rolled her eyes. "Shh! You're no help!"

"Alright," Mavis muttered, throwing her magazine aside. "Guys, stop trying to compete and get her to say your name; first of all, it's irritating for both me and your Dad. Second of all, I highly doubt that Lily," At this she gestured to the baby, who just continued to gurgle and mutter gibberish under her breath. "Understands _anything_ that you're saying."

Lucy and Mina both looked at each other, shoulders slumping in defeat - there was no arguing with their mother.

"Fine," Mina murmured, picking up her toys again. "I'm going to go and find Daddy - he told me we're having a tea party with Martha-bat, but he hasn't shown up yet!" She stuck her head up high in the air. "How rude, right?"

Mavis laughed affectionately. "Yes, very rude."

Lucy stood up too, clearly giving up. "Alright, I guess I better go and take a shower; Freddie's taking me on a walk tomorrow night in the forest, and he's coming early."

Once she had gone, Jack shut his book before stretching his arms out and trying to straighten his posture. "Well, who knew that girls were suckers for babies, huh?" He gave a small yawn, rubbing at his eyes now. "Geesh...would it be too much to ask if I can trade rooms with Lu or something - I'm closest to the baby's room, so I'm always woken up when she is."

Mavis was about to answer when someone cut her off with one word.

"Ja-ck!"

Jack and Mavis both froze and stared at each other, eyes wide and pleasantly shocked expressions painted on their faces. "Was that you?" Mavis asked.

The teen-aged monster shook his head. "No. You?"

"No."

Again they both turned to look at Lily, who was giggling as she played with a few dolls; when she noticed them, she pointed up at Jack, grinning toothily. "Jack Jack Jack!"

Jack's mouth fell open, utterly stunned. "Is she...is that..."

"Her first word is your name," Mavis agreed, looking quite shocked herself. "And you weren't even throwing it in her face either..." She suddenly smiled and reached out to pick the baby off the floor. "Aww...look how clever you're getting, Lils! Do you want to say it again?"

Lily giggled at the attention, looking straight at Jack and reaching her arms out. "Jack! Jack!"

"I think she wants you to hold her," Mavis told him, and he was suddenly being passed his youngest sister; Jack could only stare at Lily in awe. "See? She likes it when you hold her."

Jack couldn't disagree with that; Lily was snuggling into his stomach as if he were a giant teddy bear, murmuring his name again and again to herself. "Okay then... But why mine?" He asked, looking up at his Mom with an expression of confusion on his face. "It's not like I do that much around her..."

"She must like you," Mavis mused, sending them both an affectionate look. "Besides, little girls always like older brothers - they're protective of them, I suppose."

_Hmm..._ Jack thought to himself, gazing down at his little sister - a small smile creeped on his face. _Maybe she's not as bad as I give her credit for._

**So, sucky chapters suck :/ If you guys have any ideas about what you'd like to see, PM me or drop the suggestion in a review! I'm open to all ideas!**

**Hint for future chapters/stories: I've already planned a sequel to THIS one ;) Whether anyone reads it or not...meh, we'll have to see. The story will be called "Raising Sam"... I think it will all become clear in what I plan to be Chapter 10. If you can guess beforehand, then go ahead! I challenge you! ;)**

**Also: we haven't seen the last of good ol' Damien...mwahahahahahahah!**

**Next chapter name: The Education Question**

**Reviews greatly appreciated!**


	3. Educational Questions

**Ages of the kids:**

**Lucy: 109 (equivalent to 16/17)  
Jack: 96 (equivalent to 14/15)  
Mina: 36 (equivalent to 6)  
Lily: 5**

Education Questions

Over the years, as their children had grown up, Johnny and Mavis had of course been faced with the issue of how to educate their kids. For one thing, Lucy had always been bright, picking up on walking and talking earlier than an average baby vampire, so it was clear she would benefit from some form of education. Jack, of course, had been enamoured by books ever since Dracula read him a story about a little vampire who went exploring - teaching him how to read by himself was nothing but bliss to their son.

As for Mina...well, they were still currently trying to teach her some more difficult words and basic skills that she'd need in life, but she was still pretty intelligent too (a grandchild of Dracula's couldn't not be).

At first Johnny and Mavis had assumed that Lily would be taught the same way; at home and with Dracula's help. However, a few days after the human child's fifth birthday a monster guest mused on the idea that because Lily was human it would be quite possible for her to attend a human school too.

"Oh, hell no," Johnny disagreed when Mavis questioned him about it. "For one thing, I went to school in the human world and the other kids are awful; they pick on everyone and steal lunch money."

Mavis sighed. "Well, it's just that it would be ideal, you know? She'd only be gone while we're asleep-"

"Yeah, and asleep when we're all awake," Johnny added. "We haven't sent any of the other three to human school - mainly because they're _not_ human, I guess - and they're still quite smart, right?"

"Yes, of course," The vampiress agreed, nodding her head. "But think about how much Lily would be able to learn at a human school: she'd learn to read and write...and she'd make friends who are like her as well."

The red-head thought about it and gave a nod. "Okay, yeah, there is that. But... But human schools always have, like, these Parents Evenings." When Mavis looked at him, confused, he elaborated. "It's basically when parents get called into the school to talk about their kids and how well they're doing."

"Oh," Mavis sighed, seeing his point. "That's true - how are we meant to go to those when we can't even go out during the day?"

For a few nights, that issue seemed to have been settled: there was no way that the child of two vampires could go to a human school, especially if she was going to start talking about her "Grandpa Dracula's hotel for monsters", as she put it.

It was only when Lucy and Jack heard about this possibility that they intervened with their parents' choice.

"Dad," Jack said seriously. "All I'm saying is that if she goes to a school for humans she'll learn so much more in so much less time - she'll get to learn about science and cells and... And we have to let her have that chance!"

Lucy made a noise of agreement, giving her mother a rather beady eye. "Totally: look, as much as we love Lily and she's our sister, she's still human. She's different from us and she actually has a chance of getting taught properly - no offence to you guys or Grandpa."

"But-"

"No 'but's, Mom," Jack interrupted. "Look, we get it: 'it's too dangerous'...'she might blow our cover'... But, really, who's going to believe her if she says that her family are all vampires?"

Lucy snorted. "Yeah. Who'll believe her, guys, if she went around saying that her Grandpa was _the_ Count Dracula?"

The two of them did, admittedly, raise rather good points: so good, in fact, that it opened up the whole issue again.

"There's a human village just outside the forest," Johnny stated one morning after the kids had all gone to bed. "I know there is, 'cause Lu used to fly out there every night when she thought we didn't know. There's gotta be a human school or something there."

"Even if there is, surely it would be best to check it out first," Mavis reminded him - and then realized she had remembered another possible error in this plan. "Let me guess: human schools definitely don't open after dark for us to look around."

Johnny groaned, face-palming himself. "No. God, it's been so long since I went to school...all I know was that it was awkward and a total waste of time: I mean, all that time I could have been travelling or whatever just..._wasted_."

"But that was 'High School', wasn't it?" His wife asked, trying hard to remember all that she could about what he had told her. "Surely a school for little kids like her wouldn't be so bad: it's just to make sure she can read and write." She straightened up, voice suddenly firmer and more stubborn. "Lil's a human, and she hasn't...she hasn't got as long as us, Johnny. She should get to experience all that she can, right?"

The red-head blinked at her, shoulders slumping at the mention of just how little time their daughter had in comparison to them, but nodded. "Yeah," He agreed, voice suddenly a lot softer. "She should. You're right: her being human means that she should get to go to human school, I guess, even if it's only for a year or two." He paused, thinking about something. "So, if we _do_ send her to this school, how is it gonna work? We can't take her 'cause of the Sun being out and all that, and there's no way she should have to go alone."

"Well..." Mavis hesitated, not sure if she should say it. "Do you have any relatives? You know, nephews or...something?"

Johnny shrugged, looking rather sullen. "Matt's kids both died a few years ago, James' daughter is in an old folk's home, Daniel didn't have any...and then Chris was paralysed during a football game, so he didn't..." He took a deep breath. "Carl...look, the guy had so many girlfriends that he's probably got a ton of kids that we'll never know about. And Jake..." He sighed. "He...he..."

_He was beaten up for loving the person he did._

"Okay," Mavis said quickly, not wanting him to get upset. "So that's out of the question..."

It only took another half an hour of discussions before they came to the conclusion that it wasn't possible - still, it wasn't too bad, they supposed: Jack was a fantastic teacher.

* * *

Jack, being the most studious of the older siblings, often took the lead role in helping Lily with her reading and writing skills; at first it had been quite tedious, considering how slow she learnt at first. But now, when she was five, she seemed slightly keener and sharper, picking up his tips easily.

That night was a much more fun lesson, seeing as it was nearly the weekend, and so Jack was sat at the kitchen table with Lily: he held up a card with a word written on it and studied his little sister's face.

Lily beamed, gaps showing in her teeth. "That's 'rabbit'... Like in Wonderland!"

"Yup!" Jack agreed, picking up another card. "Okay then... How do you spell 'dinner'?"

She rolled her eyes impatiently. "Jack, that's too easy!... But it's D...I...N...N...E...R...at least, I think it is..."

"Yes," Jack told her, putting the card away and grinning. "But you weren't sure, so it was a great idea to check."

Lily shook her head at him, some of her sass showing through: the term, 'red heads have short tempers' applied to her on many levels. "How come you get to ask all of the questions?" She complained. "I have questions too, you know: I bet that you can't answer them, though."

"A challenge," Her older brother laughed, leaning forwards and giving her a confident smirk. "Alright, fine: give it to me."

Lily smiled mischievously. "Why is a raven like a writing desk?"

_Oh, for God's sake..._ "Lils, that's a riddle from a fantasy book," He informed her. "It's not got an answer: even the Hatter himself didn't know. How the heck am _I _meant to know?"

"'Cause you said that you're the smartest," Lily stated, looking pleased to have asked a question her brother didn't know the answer to. "And...well, it was kinda bugging me. I mean, what does it mean?!"

"I don't know," Jack admitted honestly, patting her hand with his. "But here's a tip: don't ask me anymore questions related to _Alice in Wonderland_ because I won't know the answer at all."

Math was a slightly harder subject to teach: by this time, though, Jack had successfully managed to get his sister to add simple sums and count from one to a hundred (although, she did get rather confused after eighty sometimes still). All in all, it seemed that she was learning just fine.

Well, apart from the odd question here and there that threw everyone off for a second or two.

"Mommy?" Lily asked innocently one evening when she was helping set the table for dinner. "Can I ask you something?"

Mavis sent her a smile and nodded. "Of course: you know you can ask me anything."

"Okay..." Lily took a deep breath, gazing up at her mother with wide eyes. "You know Jack and Lucy teach me sometimes? Like...reading and stuff?" When her mother nodded, she continued. "Well, could I...I mean, I love learning with them and stuff, and I love learning reading and sums...But could I learn something else too?"

The dark-haired vampire shrugged, curious as to what her daughter was going on about. "I...I suppose it depends on what it is-"

"I want to do dance lessons," Lily announced immediately. "Like what the pretty girls in magazines do: the thing where they're in those dressy-skirt things that are pink." She looked up hopefully, the picture of adorable. "Can I, Mommy? Please?!"

Okay, so this admittedly shouldn't have thrown Mavis off as much as it did - considering how the girl danced around the living room and her bedroom all the time, it should have been no surprise: no, it was just thinking of planning it out somehow that threw her off. Not wanting to promise anything or crush any dreams, Mavis said the only thing that could pass as an excuse.

"Let me talk to your Dad."

**Okay, so, I know... Long update time, shitty chapter...but I've had homework all of this week and...well...okay... I WAS admittedly playing on my X-box (Alice: Madness Returns - I recommend that...as long as you're above the age of sixteen).**

**Anyway, if you go on my deviantART account (link on profile) I made a few photoshop images of what I imagine some of the characters to look like...you know, as a kind of help for imagining. Of course, if you want to imagine you own thing then that's fine - but if you want to see my personal head-cannons, go on the folder to the right of my gallery that's called "As the Lily Grows - FanFic".**

**Another point I want to make: I DO have a load planned for when Lily is older - beware of the angst.**

**Next chapter: Petite Danseuse (a continuation of the above idea).**

**Reviews please! :)**


	4. Petite Danseuse

**Ages of the kids:**

**Lucy: 109 (equivalent to 16/17)  
Jack: 96 (equivalent to 14/15)  
Mina: 36 (equivalent to 6)  
Lily: 5**

Petite Danseuse

"Jack, have you seen your sister?"

Jack didn't even need to look up from his novel. "Front room, dancing in front of the television - probably pretending to be a ballerina or a back-up dancer for some human popstar."

Mavis smiled, shaking her head to herself. "Well, I guess I should have known that - she never does anything else." She left the kitchen and headed to the front room; of course, her youngest daughter was doing just as they had predicted.

This time, Lily was a ballerina - she was on the very tips of her toes, arms lifted above her head gracefully in concentration, and a most serious look painted across her face, almost as if she were performing a play. "One two three...one two three..." That was when she dropped from her toes and dipped into a bow in front of the television, as if thanking an invisible audience.

"That was pretty good," Mavis told her, grinning when the red-haired girl just looked over her shoulder in horror and shock. "Very graceful - Grandpa would definitely approve."

"You weren't meant to see that, Mommy!" But then Lily paused, thinking hard for a few moments. "Was I really good? I was trying to do the moves that the pretty women do on TV, but I can't do the thing on my toes just yet."

"It looked fine," Her mother assured her, giving her hair a quick ruffle as she passed. "You know, we might be able to make a famous dancer of you yet."

Lily's eyes lit up in undisguised excitement. "Really?!" She started bouncing up and down on the spot, her red curls bobbing along with her. "I would love to dance all he time, and do shows and...and..." She stopped, frowning to herself suddenly. "But I can't, Mommy."

"And why not?" Mavis asked, although she knew where this was going.

"'Cause I'd need lessons first," Lily replied, as if it were obvious. "I need to make sure I do it the right way, or I won't be as good."

The dance lessons were still being considered; after all, sending their child to a dance class during the day when they were meant to be asleep posed a slight problem. Of course, despite this, Mavis and Johnny had both been looking into it - apparently, humans weren't the only ones who danced. Quite a few monsters who had stayed at the hotel had confessed about various dance teachers all over the monster world - then again, if it was a different country that the teacher lived in...

"We'll think about it," Mavis promised, bending down and kissing the top of Lily's head. "Come on; lunch is nearly ready."

* * *

A month or so passed before the issue came up again - and in the most inconvenient place.

"You promised, Mommy!" Lily stated, causing a few monsters in the hotel lobby to turn and stare at them. "You said that you and Daddy would look for dance classes but you haven't."

Johnny blinked, trying to avoid the looks they were receiving. "We have, Lils, but it's gonna take a while...I mean, what with everything going on at the minute..."

"You mean 'cause I'm a human?" Lily questioned, sticking her head up high and sniffing. "Is that why I can't?"

"Of course not," Mavis told her, trying to steer her out of the lobby - this conversation would have been better carried on in the privacy of a hotel room. "Besides, we've been looking and looking - you've just got to be patient, sweetie."

Lily huffed but followed her family anyway. "Lucy gets to be with Freddie, and Jack gets to read all the time...and Mina plays hotel manager all the time; I just want to be able to dance. It's only fair." Well, it was to _her_ anyway.

* * *

It was a quiet night when Lily found herself in the hotel lobby, spinning around in a pretend-pirouette, head thrown back as she pretended to dance a proper ballet; she'd seen so many on the television that she had started trying to copy them. Her favourite was _Swan Lake_, and so she was pretending at that moment to be the white swan (the good one, as she thought in her head).

Usually she didn't dance without some kind of music playing, but in that moment she was making do without it; she knew most of the music anyway, so she just tried to imagine it in her head.

_I also don't dance in front of people_, she thought absent-mindedly - then again, there weren't many people in the lobby, only a few clueless zombies or old gremlins who couldn't have cared less. It was good enough for her, so she had decided to go ahead and practice.

One of the main reasons she wanted to practice in the lobby was because of how spacious it was; while she loved her room at the hotel, it just wasn't big enough for her to practice her favourite routines in - that, and she needed to be away from her family to think.

She wasn't stupid - she understood that dance lessons weren't going to immediately appear, and nor would they be easy when she started them...But she just _wanted_ it so badly that it hurt. In truth, Lily was finally understanding what Jack had meant when he'd described his fascination with books to her.

_"It's hard to explain really... I guess I just like the idea that there's stories to tell, things that you can imagine with your own head. I mean, a TV is great and all but they give you the image of what a person looks like...with a book, you can kind of imagine it for yourself. I like seeing stories and maybe...I dunno,,,coming up with my own would be cool too._"

Dancing wasn't really too different - well, apart from the physical image part - but it was still telling a story, and she loved it. Plus, she loved how happy she would feel after doing it; healthy and happy, like she was going to explode.

_Hmm. Well, I can still dance without lessons - the more I do the better, right?_

Lifting herself up on her toes and spinning around, she closed her eyes and imagined performing in front of a crowd of people - she'd be better in the future, of course, so she wasn't as nervous in her head - before dipping into a finishing position, arms poised gracefully over her head.

"Oh, très bonne!"

Lily jumped, nearly falling over as her eyes swivelled around to see who had just spoken; a tall monster - a nymph, if she was correct - was watching her, hands clapped together with the smallest hint of a smile on her face.

"That was very good, petite fille," The nymph continued, moving her hands behind her back and standing up straight. "_Quel âge avez-vous_?" When Lily just blinked, she elaborated. "How many years are you?"

_Oh._ "Five," Lily replied nervously, bowing her head slightly - something told her that this woman was a strict authority figure of some kind.

The nymph raised an eyebrow. "_Pardon?_ Did you say 'five' as in cinq? But you...you look..."

"I'm human," She explained, hoping that this monster wouldn't run away on her like some had in the past. "My mommy and daddy are monsters - so are my sisters and brother - but I'm not...My grandpa owns this hotel."

The adult monster just took in the child with a beady eye for a moment, as if checking for something. "I see. And your name?"

"Lily, Miss."

The monster nodded. "Lily. _C'est très belle._ Tell me, Lily, how long have you been dancing for? Which _professeur_ do you study under?"

"I...I don't," The red-head admitted. "I've been dancing since I can remember; I just copy things off the TV and stuff. I don't have a teacher."

The nymph raised an eyebrow, as if unsure to believe this. "Hmm..._D'accord. Enfant_, where are your parents? May I speak to them?"

_Oh no. I'm in trouble now._ Still, she was honest if anything, so she told the older woman. "In their room - it's Room 174."

"Come with me," The nymph said, putting a hand on Lily's back. "We have much to discuss."

* * *

Johnny grinned, dodging when Mavis threw a pillow at his head. "What?! Would you rather I lied to you, Mavy?"

"Yes," Mavis said primly. "I would. You know, when a lady asks if she looks a day over a hundred and twenty you tell her _no, of course not_... Not, 'well, duh!'."

The red-haired man just smiled even more. "I was only kidding! God...fine," He relented, deeming it safe to move closer to his wife. "You don't look a day over a hundred and eighteen - just like the night we met."

Mavis raised an eyebrow at him. "You're lying."

"Geesh, I can't win!"

There was a knock at the door, and Mavis sent him a look. "For insulting me and my looks, you can get that."

"But what if it's a beautiful lady monster intent on stealing me away?" Johnny joked - when the female vampire sent him a harsh glare, he stopped. "Kidding! God, someone's been getting awfully moody.."

When he opened the door, he came face to face with a very beautiful older monster. _Ah crap. I was kidding when I said that._ After a moment, Johnny also realized that their youngest daughter was standing with this monster, and he immediately assumed that she was in trouble of some kind.

"I'm real sorry if she disturbed you," He muttered, beckoning Lily to come inside. "But kids will be kids, right?"

The nymph monster looked unamused. "Non, Monsieur. Your daughter has not disturbed me in any way. May I come in and speak with you and your wife?"

Johnny blinked, not quite sure. "Uhm...yeah, I guess so..."

Mavis looked up at her daughter and the nymph monster entered the room; she sent Johnny a confused look, not sure what to think, and he returned it - clearly they were both utterly clueless as to where this conversation was heading.

"You are Lily's _parents_, oui?" The nymph asked, waiting until they had both nodded to continue. "If I may, I would like to discuss _la petite fille_ and her dancing."

"Of course," Mavis agreed. "I'd offer to give you a seat, but...well...this _is_ a hotel room after all..."

The nymph ignored this. "I am Madame Marie Bellemont. This evening, I noticed your daughter in the lobby downstairs...she likes to dance, oui?" They both nodded again. "Well, for the past two hundred years I have educated _jeunes enfants_ in the art of dance and performance at my school in Paris - some of my pupils have gone on to become professional teachers themselves and entertainers in theatres around the world."

It didn't escape Johnny and Mavis' notice that Lily's eyes lit up at this, clearly excited. "I see," Mavis said slowly, giving her husband a look - if this was going the way they thought it was going...

"Now, I have recently retired," Madame Bellemont stated. "I have no ambitions to continue teaching ballet at my school - to see the children I care about fight their way to the top against one another. But tonight, I saw your _fille_ and..." She cleared her throat. "Your daughter is a very talented _danser_, Madame and Monsieur. Admittedly she has a lot of work to be done, but she _does_ have a raw talent that is rarely seen in _élèves _so young."

Johnny grinned widely, shooting his daughter a quick wink and thumbs up; she giggled but regained her composure when she realized just whose presence she was in at that current moment.

Mavis, meanwhile, was just nodding and listening intently. "Well, that's great and all but...why come and tell us?"

"I would like to teach your daughter," The older monster announced firmly, and Lily's smile only widened at the thought. "I would train her in classical ballet and any other styles she may wish to learn. It would all be free, I assure you, and I would do my best to make her into a truly remarkable _danseuse._"

Mavis frowned to herself slightly, somewhat confused. "But...but your school is in France, Madame. I'm sure you can understand that we wouldn't want...and it would be such a big move..."

Johnny nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Look, we get that this is kinda a great thing and all - but we have three other kids, and we wouldn't just be able to move up to France."

Madame Bellemont gave a small laugh. "Oui, so Lily has told me; she _did_ worry when I told her that she would have to move to France, but I can assure you now that this will not be the case." She straightened up. "I _was_ planning on returning to Paris after this week, but I can see that my services are needed here."

"I...well..." Johnny and Mavis looked between the nymph and their daughter; it was clear what their daughter wanted.

Mavis took a deep breath, knowing that there was only one question needed. "Lils, what do you think?"

Immediately Lily was bouncing on the spot excitedly. "I really, really, _really_ want to, Mommy!"

"Your daughter would be the first human I have ever taught," The nymph continued. "And because she would be my only student she will of course be my top priority when it comes to dancing. So?" She looked at the two of them expectantly. "Oui ou Non?"

Honestly? There wasn't even a valid reason to say no - of course they were going to agree! Besides, it made them both happy to see their youngest daughter laugh and start hugging the three adults in celebration when the okay was given.

**Basically...I based Madame Bellemont on this Russian teacher in a book called "Ballet Shoes" - and she teaches a red-haired girl named Posy ballet in the book, but...meh.**

**Hope you enjoyed - glad so many of you are enjoying it so far! Please leave reviews if you can!**


	5. For the Love of a Zing

**Ages of the kids:**

**Lucy: 125 (equivalent to 19)  
Jack: 112 (equivalent to 17)  
Mina: 52 (equivalent to 7/8)  
Lily: 21**

For the Love of a Zing

Eighteen years was not a long time at all - already Lily was looking like she'd just turned a hundred and eighteen, and it was clear that she was no longer a child. Those around her were extremely aware of how grown up she was, and in what little time it had been, making them all uncomfortable and sentimental around her.

Of course, if they had thought it was bad at eighteen then they had no idea how emotional twenty one would be.

"Holy crap, Lils!" Jack gawped, looking at his 'younger' sister in awe. "You look, like, the same age as Lu! Heh, maybe even older!"

"Gee, thanks," Lily muttered but smiled anyway. "Besides, you're just all jealous because I look older than you do, and therefore _I_ can have a drink if I want to."

Johnny, who happened to be passing at that moment, snorted to himself. "Yeah, I wasn't born yesterday: you're waiting until we're not around to see it, so you can do it in secret like most people. Hey, don't give me that look!" He muttered when Lily just stared at him incredously. "Just because it's your birthday, I'm not going easy on you!"

"You also said that about her getting a boyfriend, Daddy," Mina piped in brightly, although she too looked rather put out. "How come she gets to be big before me? She's only twenty one! I couldn't do anything at twenty one!"

Lily put a hand on her older sister's shoulder, grinning to herself. "Oh, be quiet. You know that I'd love at least another decade of being little again - besides, being big isn't as fun as the others make it sound."

Mina didn't look convinced and crossed her arms across her chest. "Still, I'm still older and I can still boss you around - even if you _do_ look like a grown-up!"

"Of course," The red-head agreed, words coming out instantly - she'd been used to saying it for more than ten years by this point. "Just say the word and I'll do it."

Looking older than all of her siblings was not easy at all; by the time Lily had reached eight she had realized that she was growing up differently to her brother and sisters - that, unlike them, she didn't have fangs or drink blood beaters...or the fact that she was aging quicker. While at first Lily had been quite terrified at the prospect of having to leave the world before all those that she loved, she had come to accept it and find advantages in it.

_At least I don't have to watch everyone die before me, or be stuck at a certain stage in my life for decades._

This wasn't to say that she was looking forward to it - Lord no - but she had just...stopped being scared now. Her Grandpa had taught her that early on, she supposed, by telling stories of her Grandma; at least she had something to look forward to after she was gone.

_Enough of that, _Lily scolded herself that evening. _It's my birthday tomorrow night and I want to celebrate all night long._

* * *

"Psst!"

"Mina, shut up!"

"But she won't wake up!"

"Jack, leave her. She's excited... Hey, that didn't mean climb onto her bed!"

There was a giggle and then Lily felt a soft weight on top of her back; judging by what she knew and the snippets of conversation she had just heard, it was Mina who had just decided to use her as a seat.

She gave a loud, rather unlady-like groan. "Get off me now, or I'll do unspeakable things to your bat."

There was a loud gasp. "No you won't! Mommy and Daddy won't let you! And I'm older than you, so...so...so take that!" There was a slap on the red-haired human's shoulder, and she groaned again.

From somewhere across the room, there was the sound of Lucy laughing. "I've never seen someone not want to get up on their birthday so badly."

Lily's eyes snapped open. "Oh! Yeah! I totally forgot!"

Mina gave a giggle as her sister shot up and wrapped her arms around her tightly. "Hey! Let go of me! T-That tickles, Lils!"

"That's what you get for waking me up early on my birthday," She shot back smugly, tickling the vampire everywhere that she could reach. "Consider this revenge for jumping and sitting on me, you monster!"

Mina shrieked with laughter, looking at her older siblings for help. "H-H-Help me, guys...Ahh! S-S-Stop that!"

Jack just smirked, immediately tackling the small vampire and joining in on the torture session. "Nah, you're alright like this," He told her teasingly. "You're not as annoying...and this is pay-back for making me stop reading yesterday to play with you!"

"J-Jack... Ah-haha! Lu! Please he-help!"

Lucy laughed and leaned against the door. "I think I'm alright, thanks."

"Ah, come on!" Lily protested, looking up at her older sister pleadingly. "Just 'cause you're a hundred and twenty-five it doesn't mean that you're too grown-up to help us torture the monkey."

"Hey!"

Lucy's face lit up, and she was clearly thinking about it. Jack rolled his eyes and tutted disapprovingly. "You're getting too soft in your old age, Lu; you couldn't win a tickle battle if you tried."

This had the desired effect that the three of them wanted; in seconds the eldest of the four of them had dashed across the room and started tickling all of her siblings at once, making them back away from her with tears of laughter in their eyes.

_This birthday is gonna be awesome._

* * *

As it had become tradition, a party was thrown for the occasion - and, of course, all of the guests staying had been invited to attend. The music blared so loudly that even those staying their rooms could hear it, and so they appeared downstairs as the night wore on anyway.

"You know, you haven't stopped staring at her all night," Mavis teased as she and Johnny danced, both of them grinning.

Johnny shrugged. "Well...come on! It's weird! I mean...like..._I _was twenty-one when I came here and now...now _she_ is...and twenty-one is not a long time at all!"

Mavis gave a hollow laugh. "I suppose that's true - both of the things you said are. Twenty-one years have gone by...quickly."

Both of them knew that 'quickly' was definitely an understatement when it was compared to a monster's life span.

"Look, no sad thoughts," Mavis decided, spinning underneath the red-head's arm. "It's a party and we are not getting all sad."

"I guess you're right," Johnny agreed, movements becoming energetic again. "Come on, this is the _best_ song ever - remember, it was one of the ones I first showed you when we started travelling?"

The dark-haired vampire smiled as she reminisced for a moment. "Oh yeah..." Her smile suddenly became quite playful and mischievous. "You know, I have some other memories of that song." When her husband just looked at her, she leaned in closer to him so that their bodies were inches apart. "I remember that time in Rome just after we got engaged; you left your iPod on while we...celebrated."

If Johnny could have blushed anymore then he definitely would have. "Heheh...well... I had _other_ stuff on my mind..."

Meanwhile, Lily had been dancing around with Mina; as Mina was still only a child (a particularly small one at that, thanks to the bone structure and features she inherited from their mother) it wasn't very serious dancing, more or less just bouncing on the spot in circles and laughing wildly.

"How are you not tired yet?" Lily panted, taking a quick break to breathe; despite being a dancer - and having trained for many years at that - she wasn't quite qualified to keep up with vampire speed or stamina. "It's gotta be, like, a hundred degrees in here!"

Mina shrugged, a giggle threatening to escape her lips. "You're just slow!"

_If I don't stop soon, I'm going to faint._ Lily hurriedly looked around the hall for someone - anyone - to distract her sister... Her eyes lit up when she found the perfect person for the job.

"Hey, look!" Lily shouted, pointing in the direction. Mina spun around to look. "It's Freddie! He must have gotten a break now! Why don't you go and dance with him?"

Mina bit her lip, clearly very much wanting to. "But...but he probably wants to dance with Lu." At this she made a face that made her sister laugh. "Love is gross. I don't ever want to be in love, never ever! I mean, all _they_ do is kiss and hug and hold hands and it's...blegh!" She made a vomiting motion.

"Well, go and say hello before Lucy gets to him," Lily muttered. Her sister gave her a look, lips curving in a sly smile that the human returned. "First come, first serve, right?"

The vampire child nodded, gave a wink, and dashed into the crowd to greet her friend. _Oh, thank God she's gone,_ Lily thought tiredly. _Maybe now I can have a drink or something...hmm. I wonder if the bartender remembered to get something that I can actually drink-_

Her thoughts were cut off when she tripped over somebody's foot - by the looks of it, a huge monster with tentacles that spread out across the floor. Rather ungraciously for a dancer in training, Lily stumbled forwards and bumped into someone.

"Oh shit!" She exclaimed, straightening herself out. "I...I'm so sorry! Are you alright?"

The person, a young man, turned around. "Really, it's oka-"

He was cut off as their eyes met and the world stopped.

* * *

"Hey, Mina! Have you seen Lils?"

Mina shrugged, happily tugging on Freddie's curls as he placed her on his shoulders. "I dunno. She sent me over her to talk to Freddie. Hey, Freddie!" She called down to him, and he trained his eyes upwards on her as best as he could. "Is it true that you met the real Loch Ness Monster last week? Was she nice? Or was it a he?"

Freddie grinned. "I have no idea, lil' bat. But I got to serve them for dinner and they were very polite; well, their accent was kinda weird and hard to understand, but..."

Lucy turned to her brother, who was eying up some siren girls dancing a few metres away. When he noticed his older sister, he jumped and hurriedly spun around to look at her. "Caught you. _Again_." Lucy smirked.

Jack coughed awkwardly. "What?! I don't just read books all the time!"

"No," Lucy agreed, quite amused. "But I've found your reading material, hidden under your mattress. I must say, the 'Vampires Exposed' didn't really appeal to me, but I suppose your thing _is_ breasts."

Jack's mouth fell open in horror. "You _read_ it?!"

"I rather liked the graphic book about all of the different positions," Lucy continued to tease, keeping her voice low so that Freddie didn't hear. "The pictures were rather...enlightening. May I borrow it some time?"

"Argh! That's disgusting, Lu!" He objected, looking around to see if anyone else had heard their conversation so far. "Besides, don't let Dad hear you say that; I think he's only just warming up to the idea of you dating Freddie. Don't ruin it by spreading around that you're...well..."

She grinned but changed the subject. "Anyway, have you seen Lily? I want to have a dance with her before the party ends."

"How am I meant to know?" Jack asked, still rather mortified by their previous topic of conversation. "Lu, I get her confused with you nowadays - the only difference is the eyes, and even then it's only vague."

"Oh! Oh!" Mina yelled excitedly, buzzing with excitement on Freddie's shoulders. "Lucy, I see her! She's over there, near the bar... Holy Rabies!"

Lucy and Jack shared a look. "What?" Jack questioned, peering up at her shocked face. "What's the matter?!"

Their younger sister's mouth fell wide open. "Holy Rabies, Holy Rabies... SHE'S TALKING TO A BOY!"

"What?!" Lucy shouted.

Jack straightened up, suddenly looking somewhat angry. "A BOY?!"

"She's talking to a boy!?" Freddie questioned, looking quite surprised himself; in the past few years, he'd come to know Lily pretty well, almost as if she were his own sister (after all, a zing kind of meant he was a part of his girlfriend's family anyway) and the thought of her talking to a boy was just as uncomfortable to him as it was to Jack.

Mina nodded excitedly. "Uh-huh, uh-huh! They're just staring at each other... YAY!" She exclaimed, practically bouncing on her friend's shoulders. "I THINK IT'S A ZING, GUYS!"

"No it's not!" Jack growled, starting to push through the crowd of dancing monsters. "I'm gonna go and see what the heck she's doing..."

Lucy looked up at Mina, still confused. "What does he look like? Can you see?"

Mina bit her lip, squinting through the throng of monsters. "Yeah...he's...I _think_ he's blonde. He's kinda tall too, and I _think_ he's a vampire too. I dunno, I can't see if he's got fangs or not."

Not satisfied with this description, Lucy morphed into her bat form and decided to check this out for herself; her sister's bright hair was immediately visible now that she had a high vantage point, and she swooped down closer to try and get a better look.

At the same time, Jack had gotten close enough to see more of this boy that his younger sister was talking to.

Both of them could only gape in utter horror when they realized who it was.

* * *

Mina gave a gasp from Freddie's shoulders and started to clutch at his hair desperately. "Go, go, go!"

"What?" He asked, quite confused. "What's up, lil' bat?"

"Go, go to where Lu and Jack just went!" Mina urged, pointing him in the general direction. "They're beating up that boy that Lils was hanging out with!"

Freddie started to move but cast the little girl a dubious look. "Beating him up?"

"Yes!" She stressed, tapping at him to move faster. "Well, Jack is - Lucy's yelling, and I think Lily is too-"

The party seemed to have stopped immediately then; the music went off as everyone turned to see what was going on, and it was only then that the two vampire friends heard what exactly was going on.

* * *

"Hey, get off of him, Jack!" Lily snarled, tugging at her brother angrily. "For God's sake, are you mad?!"

Jack just continued to shove the other boy in front of him. "You stay away from my sister, you ass!" He growled lowly, baring his fangs menacingly. "What?! You couldn't get one so you decided to go for another?"

"What the hell are you on about?!" The boy - or rather, young man - asked, trying to duck the punches being thrown at him. "I have no idea what's going on!"

Lily moved forwards to stop what was going on, but Lucy stopped her. "Don't," She warned, and Lily shot her a rather dark look. "You don't understand... Look, we'll explain later on, Lils..."

"No!" Lily protested firmly. "I'm twenty-one, I can do what I want! Now tell me why the hell you're pushing this guy around - what has he done to you?!"

There was a crowd gathering around them now: Mina and Freddie appeared near the front, and Mina looked absolutely horrified by all of the violence she was seeing. Freddie, however, trained his eyes on the new young man in question and went into protective mode.

"You!" He shouted, sounding a lot stronger than he usually felt. "You little son of a-" The rest of his words were lost when he hit the blonde man in the jaw and the crowd around them gave mutters and noises of shock. Mina gave a whimper, hiding her face in her hands.

Lily looked at Freddie, only getting more confused. "Can someone _please_ tell me what the hell is going on? Why are you all so angry at...at this guy?! What has he done to you?!"

Johnny and Mavis happened to push through the crowd at that moment, looking rather intrigued and disturbed by the fighting. "Daddy!" Mina cried, running over to where they were standing. They both looked rather confused as to what was going on and took in the scene in front of them with wide eyes.

Johnny hurriedly took her into his arms and looked between the young vampires (and young human) in question. "What's going on? Why are we fighting? I thought this was a party-"

"I'll tell you what's going on!" Jack interrupted fiercely. "This...this little ass tried to _rape_ my older sister a while ago!"

There was another loud gasp in the crowd, and a few monsters left - clearly, this was not a conversation they wanted to hear, and so they decided to just remove themselves from it entirely. Johnny and Mavis, however, had no choice but to stay - it was the conversation that no parent should have ever had to have concerning a child.

Johnny's eyes did something that had never once happened in his life of being a vampire; they flashed bright red, a fire igniting inside of him. "What do you mean he 'tried to _rape_' her?!"

Freddie glared at the blonde man in hate: he looked rather similar to an animal trying to protect its mate. "He took Lucy out to the forest..." He sent an apologetic look at Mavis and Johnny. "I don't really want to...but I guess I have to..." He took a deep breath. "I found them: _he_ had Lu pinned to a tree and he was trying to remove her clothes... He tried to force himself on her!"

Lily looked at the blonde, a mixture of feelings shown on her face. "Is that...is that true?"

He looked between Lily and Lucy, finally making the connection between the two. "Ah crap..." He ducked his head. "Look, I was just a kid then... I had no idea what I was doing! I...I mean, I was just..."

"You tried to rape my daughter?!" Johnny snarled, so angry that even Mina shrank away from him - not an easy feat, considering she was still in his arms.

Around them, everyone in the crowd were also starting to snarl and growl; a few stepped closer, baring their teeth and glaring down at the young vampire in rather menacing and threatening ways.

"STOP!"

All of the mutterings and murmurings fell silent at the sound of Lily's yell; the human was glaring around at everyone, brown eyes suddenly cold and serious.

"Stop it," She repeated, somewhat calmer now. "Look, I...I know that he looks bad right now but..." She gave a sigh. "He wasn't taking advantage of me you know! I tripped and fell into him and then...and then..." She looked at her parents pleadingly - of all people, she hoped that they would understand. "I think it was a...a..."

Lucy's mouth fell open in horror while Jack and Freddie both started and started to protest. Johnny just looked at his youngest daughter, clearly not quite sure what to think, and Mavis...it was clear that she was suffering from conflicting thoughts and feelings on the matter.

"Okay, rape and all that _is_ a pretty disgusting thing," Lily continued, somewhat unsurely. "And I agree, it's awful that he nearly...especially to my sister... But people change, right?"

"Not like that," Jack muttered.

The red-haired human bit her lip. "You know, a wise person once told me that if you find your zing, then you should cherish it."

When she said this, she locked eyes with her Mom; Mavis' internal conflict only got worse thanks to this comment, and she was clearly torn between the two different approaches to the situation.

"I'm only going to live for...what? Another sixty or seventy years?" The human continued, somewhat more confident now. "And I...I want to..." She cleared her throat, offering the blonde young man a shy smile. "Who knows? Maybe a werewolf _does_ change his fur."

"I think Uncle Wayne would disagree with you," Mina muttered, voice muffled by Johnny's shirt.

Lucy looked at her sister, utterly defeated. "But...But he-"

"It's the past, Lu," Lily stated, turning to the entire group to address them. "Just give him a chance. For me?"

Everyone looked around at each other; the guests mainly grumbled and started to return to their rooms. Lily's family, however, remained where they were - it was clear that they were still quite unsure on what to do.

"Come on," Lucy muttered, grabbing Freddie's hand and Jack's arm. "I think that Mom and Dad need a conversation _alone_ with Lils right now." The door slammed shut behind them, the sound echoing throughout the hall and filling the suddenly awkward silence that had arrived.

Finally, Mavis stepped forwards; she eyed the blonde up apprehensively before turning to Lily seriously. "Fine," She agreed quietly, and Johnny gave a start from behind her. "He should get a second chance...But if he _does_ turn out to be like what everyone else is saying..."

"I know, Mom," Lily agreed, nodding her head. "I promise."

Johnny looked very much like he wanted to disagree, but a whine from Mina distracted him and he gave a sigh. "Fine," He repeated, voice somewhat less accommodating and more stern than his wife's had been. "But I swear, the first sign of trouble there is, I _will_ kill him."

Lily couldn't help but smile - empty threats from her usually peaceful father really did amuse her to no end.

* * *

"You know, it's been two nights since that party and I still don't know your name."

"Oh. I'm Damien."

"Damien. Huh. That's a cool name. I'm Lily."

The love of a zing was not something to be messed around with, and Lily had been correct - if you even just_ think_ you may have zinged, it is always for the best if you attempt (even mildly) to pursue it. If not: well, at least you made sure and didn't end up potentially with a broken heart from being separated permanently.

And if it was...well, that was a whole new ball game indeed.

**GAH! I'm so exhausted so please don't shoot me if it was bad or something: I'm on the verge of collapsing on my chair right now. **

**Please leave your thoughts guys!**


	6. Unexpected Discoveries

Unexpected discoveries

Over the years, Lily had begun to make some very unexpected discoveries during her night time explorations of her grandfather's hotel: one time, when she was eight, she had found a box full of old paintings while playing with Mina. The two had looked through the portraits that they found, taking it in turns to guess who was who in each one.

"Oh! That's Grandpa Drac!" Mina announced triumphantly. "He still looks like that, doesn't he?"

Lily nodded, picking up another one. "I think...well, that _has_ to be Grandma, right? I mean, Grandpa's with her and she looks like what Grandpa tells us she does."

Mina nodded as well. "Yeah. I've seen paintings in Grandpa's room - that's Grandma."

Next the two stumbled on a few rather worn out clothes and decorations; some were in good enough condition that the two threw them over their heads and played dress-up for half an hour. There were also old toys (maybe their mother's from another time?) and Lily immediately attatched herself to a skeleton dolly.

"What?" She asked when Mina just stared at her. "My unicorn needs a friend! Don't- Hey, what's that?"

They both faced the same direction to look at it: it was an old box of some kind - it was rather small, like a shoebox, and had a purple ribbon wrapped around it to keep any pests from getting inside. Mina undid the ribbon and blew some dust off of the cover of the box and looked at her sister uncertainly. "What if it's something private?"

"Let's see," Lily urged, not even thinking about that - in her mind, the two had found it and so could look inside.

The dark-haired girl opened the lid and her eyes lit up. "Oh, wow! Look, Lils! It's photographs!"

Lily blinked, confused. "But...but you said that you guys can't show up in photos..."

"Maybe it's some of the other monsters," Mina decided. "Or...maybe humans!"

The red-head couldn't help but suddenly feel weak: she didn't know any humans other than herself, and the thought of even just _seeing_ other humans made her somewhat intrigued. "Let's look and see."

There were about fifty photos, all of them in colour and pretty clear. The two children lay the photos out individually in front of them so that they could be surveyed, eyes wide and mouths wide open with excitement.

Mina was the first to break the tension between them. "That...that's Daddy."

Lily peered at the photo in question and felt a smile stretch across her face; Johnny was instantly recognizable, thanks to his bright and unruly red hair and lit up brown eyes. He looked much younger in this photo, though; no older than Lily in fact. He was holding onto a bizarrely large dog (presumably somebody in a costume) with yellow fur and long, droopy black ears, and he was grinning brightly at the camera.

"_Dis...Dis...nee...land,_" Lily sounded out, looking at the lettering across the top of the photo. "_Disneyland. _What's that?"

Mina shrugged. "I dunno. Looks fun though."

The next photo with their father in it was when he was even smaller - around the same age as in the photo - and he was wearing a backpack on his back, hands clutching the straps, and a t-shirt that said, 'Mickey' on it with a cartoon of a mouse. He was standing next to two other boys, both older than him - both sporting red hair of course - and it was clear that they were brothers.

"Daddy has brothers?" Lily questioned, looking at her sister for confirmation. "How come we never meet them?"

Mina shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe they had a fight or something?"

"I don't like that photo," The human girl announced suddenly, pointing at another one and looking quite worried. Johnny looked to be about eighteen, and while he looked perfectly happy, it made both of the girls uncomfortable to see him with his arm around the shoulders of a pretty petite blonde girl. Her hands were on his shoulder and she was sending a pout at the camera, clearly trying to appear...well, they were both too young to understand why a girl back then would want to do that.

Mina wrinkled her nose, staring at it in disgust. "Eww. I don't like her - I like Mommy a lot better." She sent her sister a look, trying to appear as though she knew everything. "This was probably before he met Mommy and they zinged, Lils." She nodded her head, as if her opinion were final. "Yes. Mommy is way better."

Lily let out a breath and looked relieved. After a few seconds, she turned to her sister slowly and gave her a shy smile. "Mina?" She murmured quietly. "I like Mommy a lot better as well."

"Uh-huh," Mina agreed, a small smirk on her face. "Obviously Daddy does too."

* * *

Lily had had enough, she really had.

"Jack!" She yelled, stomping her foot angrily and pacing down the corridor to her brother's room. "You stole my ballet shoes again, didn't you? It's not funny! You know that I can't go and meet Madame Bellemont without them!"

Since the door to his room was never locked (thanks to various wishes from their parents and Grandpa), Lily just opened it and looked around the room; of course Jack wasn't in there, conveniently missing when she needed to yell at him.

Sighing to herself, Lily decided to look around and find her shoes for herself. There was no telling where Jack was, and her next dance lesson was to begin in half-an-hour - she still needed to have time to get to the lesson (this time held in the ballroom of the hotel) and since she didn't have monster speed on her side, she had to do things the difficult way.

The first place she checked was underneath his bed - all that she found was her brother's suitcase shoved under there, empty and not needed right now. Growling to herself, she stood up and decided to check through his bedside drawers.

"I'll only find books," She muttered angrily, sitting on the freshly made bed and yanking over the first of his three drawers. "Let's see...money, bookmarks... Eww...is that a yoghurt carton in there?" Lily shuddered, hurriedly shutting the drawer and turning to the next one. "Let's see..."

Lily trailed off when she found a pile of magazines hidden in there.

"Good God," She muttered in horror, and she stared at the cover of the top one: a very young female vampire was posed on the cover, giving the camera a sultry look, and wearing nothing more than a thin pair of knickers.

Lily picked the pile up and looked at the covers in shock; all of them sported zesty headlines about sex in some way, and all but one of them had girls in nothing more than lingerie. The one that didn't was no better; the model was on the front, her legs spread apart and her hands reaching behind her, as if to unclasp her bra.

Jack was reading _porn_ magazines.

"My, my," She muttered to herself, a small smirk flitting across her lips. "You're not getting away with stealing my shoes anymore, Jack. Not after this."

Feeling quite daring, the ten year old opened the top magazine - only for her jaw to drop in horror.

"EWW!" She shouted, resisting the urge to shut it again, instead blinking to try and clear her mind. "Why the heck...that's just...Jack..." She muttered, looking over the pages in slight disgust.

_Why on Earth would someone want to do...do...that?!_

Hearing about sex was one thing - but actually seeing pictures was quite another.

Supressing a groan, Lily hurriedly shut the cover and shoved the entire pile back into her brother's drawers; this was not something she wanted to see anymore of... She was so mortified by what she had seen that she didn't think she'd be able to tell her parents about the ordeal.

On the bright side, though, she had just found new blackmail material to let her get whatever she wanted. That thought caused her to smirk to herself.

* * *

"OHMYGOD!"

Lucy's head shot up at the sound of her fourteen - nearly fifteen, mind you - year old sister's scream. "What? Lils, what's the matter?"

Lily came out of the bathroom, staring at her sister in utter horror. "I was just...I started my you-know-what...I needed to put in a tampon...I went to go and put the wrapper in the bin and...and..." She swallowed, giving her sister a beady look. "What the hell are you thinking?"

Lucy just stared at her, quite puzzled. "I'm not sure what you're on about, to be honest."

It was only when Lily lifted her arm that the vampire realized she was holding something in her hand - between her fingertips, more like, as if she were afraid to touch it.

"What is _this_?" Lily demanded. "And don't lie to me, Lucy, because I'll know!"

It didn't take long for the red-haired vampire to recognize what her sister had found; it looked rather like an empty clear balloon, and it was with embarrassment that she realized what exactly her sister had just stumbled across.

"This is a condom!" Lily snapped when Lucy didn't say anything. "You've been using a condom! And I think I know who with!"

"Lily," Lucy said slowly, regarding her sister carefully. "Look, I'm a hundred and eighteen now. It's perfectly legal for me to be...to be with my boyfriend."

Her little sister went bright red. "It's just..._you_'ve had sex? _You_?! And Freddie?!" She shuddered. "This is too weird. This is way too weird. He's...He's older than you, and you slept with him! You let him have sex with you!"

Lucy sighed: this was not quite a reaction she would have anticipated. "I know that you might be...worried for my well-being, Lily, and I can understand that. If you want, though, I can explain the entire thing to you."

Lily gave her a sceptical look. "I already know what sex is."

"That's not what I meant."

The human gave a huff and sat down on the bed, waiting and folding her arms together expectantly. "Go on then. Tell me."

Lucy bit her lip, shuffling closer to her sister and putting an arm around her. "What exactly is worrying you, Lily? If you tell me what about it makes you...uncomfortable...then I'll try to explain as best to you as I can."

Lily looked down at her lap and back up again. "I guess it's just...you only _just_ turned a hundred and eighteen last October and now...now you and Freddie are 'doing things'." She gave a small shrug. "I just... He hasn't been...I mean..."

"No," Lucy promised sincerely, understanding immediately. "It was a joint decision, I promise. Actually, it took a lot of convincing for _me_ to get _him_ on board - he isn't the forceful type, you know."

Lily gave a small smile.

"And if the pregnancy thing is something you're worried about, I think we've got evidence that I'm being safe," Lucy added wryly.

"I guess sex is just weird to me," The human sister muttered, somewhat reluctantly. "I know how it works and everything but...but..." She went bright red. "It just doesn't sound nice or romantic at all; it sounds painful and uncomfortable."

Lucy gave a small laugh. "Yeah, I suppose I felt like that too when I was younger. But when you get to my age and you start to understand a little bit more, it all makes sense." Lily sent her a look, waiting for her to elaborate. "Well...okay, at first it _is_ uncomfortable and a bit painful."

"And you still did it?!"

"It's only for a little while," Her sister assured her, looking away out of shyness and embarrassment. "But then, after a while, it feels...good. I know from experience that there's nothing quite like it..." She smiled to herself. "The best way I can put it, Lily, is that it's an adult way of showing that you love someone."

Lily was silent for a few moments, slightly taking this information in. "I see."

"It's normal to be worried about that kind of thing," Lucy told her, putting an arm around her. "I _was_ the first time but I knew that it was the right time... If it wasn't that fantastic, then...well, let's just say that Mom and Dad wouldn't have had four of us."

Lily made a gagging noise, looking horrified. "Eww! Lu, that is disgusting!"

They both giggled before Lucy sent Lily a serious look - a slightly pleading one. "Do me one thing?"

Lily gave a tiny nod.

"Don't tell Mom and Dad - especially not Dad. You know that he'll go into protective mode or something."

Lily grinned - she had no plans, whatsoever, to be the one to bring this particular piece of information up with their parents.

**Mwahahahah! I feel dirty but...meh. Welcome to growing up ;)**

**Sorry about the time between updates: my exams are drawing closer and closer, so I'm just trying to relax and get my homework done at the moment. Hopefully after I finish in June I'll have more time to write. **

**Please leave me a comment with your thoughts/ideas?**


	7. Damien

Damien

"I cannot believe you, Lily!"

Lily glared at her brother icily. "Oh, I'm _so_ sorry, Jack, but a zing is pretty involuntary you know!"

Jack just gave an angry noise and continued to pace. Freddie looked at her, in almost disbelief, and spoke quietly. "He...He tried to do _things_ to Lucy, Lily: I saw it with my own eyes. He's not a good guy."

"He was younger then," The red-head retorted. "We all do stupid stuff when we're younger - and I'm twenty one now, guys. I can totally look after myself!" She folded her arms stubbornly. "I know that you're both worried about me - I mean, you're my brothers - but I can make a decision about boys - men - I date."

"He tried to rape our sister!" Jack growled protectively. "If Freddie hadn't been there when he had...do you not realize just how bad things could have gone?! You _know_ that that time had been... It was a difficult time for us."

Lily bit her lip - she knew very well now what exactly had been going on around that time. "I'm not saying what he did was alright at all. But he's my zing and you only get one and...and..." She looked down at the floor. "Let's face it, I'm not going to live much longer compared to you guys: I need to make the best of my life."

Jack and Freddie sent each other unsure looks, not quite sure what to make of this.

Finally, Jack gulped. "That's not fair," He stated quietly. "Stop using that as an excuse for everything."

"It's the truth," Lily told him bluntly. "Why deny it? Look, I know what he did was wrong and if I had known him then, then I would have...well, I would have probably killed him or at least hurt him in some way. But he's older now and he probably feels mortified by what he did - maybe even guilty."

Freddie huffed. "He wasn't feeling it then - he went and reported me to the Council. I had charges put against me that weren't even true - I could have lost my job because of him."

"I know, I know," Lily sighed, looking down at the floor. "But it was _twenty-one_ years ago. Don't you think that people can change?" She didn't wait for either of them to reply. "You know what, I'm done with this; I'm going to bed and I'll talk to him tomorrow."

Jack grit his teeth together. "No you're not. You might be an adult in the human world, but in the monster world you're still a child."

"If we stick to that then I won't _ever_ be an adult," Lily snapped hotly. "I'm not gonna live to be a hundred and eighteen! Besides, I look old enough to be a hundred and thirty - I'm an adult, and you can't stop me from doing what I want!"

Jack went extremely pale - paler than Lily had ever seen him - and it seemed that all of the fight left his body at the mention of her aging. Freddie's mouth just fell open, not quite sure what to say to counter this argument.

"Just give him a chance," The red-haired human pleaded, taking a step closer to the two of them. "Mom agreed, and if Mom agrees then that means that she could probably get Dad on board too... I don't want to have you h-hating me for this."

Okay, so maybe that last sentence had been added in merely so that she'd sound dramatic, but still, she felt quite proud of herself for coming up with it on the spot.

Freddie sighed, looking down at the floor grumpily. "I just... I hate him. He was such a...such a...you know. I just don't know if someone can change over time." He gave another sigh and scuffed his shoes against the floor while letting out a long whistle. "Fine; but the first sign of trouble, and I get to kick his ass."

Lily rolled her eyes - but a smile was starting to form on her face. "Sure. If you want."

"I'll kill him if he does anything," Jack muttered lowly, it nearly coming out as an aggressive snarl. "Even if he's changed, Lils, I'm gonna keep _very_ good watch of him...I don't care if he's your zing or not: the first slip-up he makes, and he's dead."

Lily shook her head at them both; honestly, older brothers said such stupid things to seem big sometimes...

She tried not to smirk, though, at the thought that, if needed, she could take on both of them at any time - the same time - and come out without injuries.

* * *

"I still don't like him."

Mavis just laughed and shook her head at her husband. "Really?!" She asked incredously. "Johnny, they've been together for a year now; if he wanted to do anything, then I'm sure that he would have."

Johnny gave a grumble as he watched his daughter and her boyfriend talk outside. "I don't like how close he is; I mean, his arm is just so low down her back! Any lower and..." His eyes flashed. "I don't like him."

"You said the same about Freddie, you know," Mavis reminded him, sitting back on the couch and flipping through a magazine absent-mindedly. "_He's nothing but bad news... Befriending a child and then making a move on Lucy..._"

He turned around at her impression of him. "Well, that was twenty two years ago; he's a good kid really. But we have to be careful, Mavy, or God knows what might happen." He looked about out of the window and narrowed his eyes. "I don't care if he's a vampire too, I'll still try to suck all of his blood out if he hurts her."

His wife gave a snort. "Johnny! You sound like my dad! Leave them alone; you're treating our daughters' boyfriends like crap."

"Oh, I'm so sorry for being concerned," Johnny mumbled, storming away from the window and falling backwards onto the couch next to her. "Next time I won't bother; they can date whoever the hell they want then without me saying anything!"

Mavis put her magazine down and gave him a hard look. "Look, I understand your concern, Johnny - I'm the same - but...maybe just tone it down a bit." She pointed out of the window. "You just looked at them outside; she looks so happy when she's around him. And, to be honest, I've seen the way that he looks at her... She's in safe hands."

Johnny huffed. "Last month, Mavy: she didn't look very happy then."

"It was a small fight," Mavis stated. "All couples have them - we've had enough."

"Besides, what's he gonna be like when she starts to get old?" The red-haired man questioned. "It's all good saying that he loves her _now_ but just wait until she becomes a little grey-haired old lady who can't walk; he can't possibly..." He stopped talking and swallowed thickly. "Sorry."

His wife sighed. "It's fine." She put a hand on his, giving him a serious look. "Trust me on this - she's going to be happy with him. She's not an idiot, and I don't think she'd do something she doesn't want to do." She squeezed his hand. "We want her to be happy, Johnny."

Johnny sighed as well, looking away from her and up at the paintings and photos on the wall; Lily's beaming face stared back at him from numerous years, making his heart hurt. Since none of the others could appear in photos, the only form of her with them was in paintings - even in the art, he could see her cheeky grin and outgoing personality shine on her face.

She hadn't been shy about sharing her feelings, that's for sure. And, he supposed, that wouldn't have changed.

"I still don't like him," Johnny grumbled and Mavis grinned to herself. "He's got a lot of ass-kissing to do before anything else happens between them."

_Well, at least she'll be happy...even if it is with that smug little blonde bastard._

* * *

Damien watched as Lily busied herself around the room, grabbing various articles of clothing and objects hurriedly. Her suitcase was open on the bed beside him, and he could only sit there while she prepared herself for the upcoming trip.

Finally, he swallowed down the lump in his throat. "How long are you gonna be gone for?"

Lily shrugged, picking up a hanger holding a rather nice dress. "Who knows? I mean...it's a tour. It's however long they want me for." She sent him a grin. "I still can't believe they picked me...I so thought I'd screwed my audition up!"

"I've told you," He said immediately, a smile involuntarily making its way on his face. "When you dance, no one can take their eyes off of you."

"Yeah, but you're my boyfriend," She stated, rolling her eyes at him. "You're so biased."

Damien, smiling still, looked down at his lap for a few moments. "So what exactly is this gig then? I still don't really get it."

Lily turned around to put her clothes in her suitcase. "It's...well, I'm gonna be a back-up dancer for this singer... I don't know her, really, I've never really heard her music, but a job is a job." She sat down, looking at him breathlessly. "How lucky is it that I get picked to do an audition while we were on holiday in America?!"

"Hmm."

"Maybe Madame Bellemont spoke with an associate of hers in America or something," She continued. "And then that associate somehow managed to put in a good word for me..."

"Actually," Damien said, sending her a small smirk. "We got a phone call from some guy - he'd obviously phoned the wrong number or something - and he started going on about audition times and stuff. Technically, you _stole_ another girl's dream job."

Lily rolled her eyes at him. "Oh, ha ha. Very funny." She looked at him for a moment, her smile slowly fading. "You're not happy about me going, are you?"

He hesitated before sighing. "Well, no. I guess not. I mean, don't get me wrong: I'm so happy for you! You deserve it, Lily, more than anything in the world, and I've never been more proud of someone."

"But?" She prompted.

"But...But I'm going to miss you," Damien admitted, somewhat shyly. "I've gotten so used to being around you - to living with you - that you being gone is just...weird."

Lily put a hand on his cheek and gave him a sincere look. "I know what you mean; I'm going to miss you too."

"I wish I could come with you."

She nodded in agreement. "Me too... But we're going to be travelling, and I'd either be doing a live show or rehearsing for a live show - I'll need to sleep at night, which is when you'll be awake. We still wouldn't see each other. But I _promise_ that I'll call you whenever I can."

He smiled. "And...And you won't start some kind of romance with an American star?"

Lily snorted with laughter. "Oh, trust me, I have no urges whatsoever to run away with an airhead over there - not when I've got you here."

Any doubts were pushed far into the back of his mind when she pulled him in for a kiss, arms twining around his neck; he could smell the scent of her strawberry shampoo in her hair as it fell from behind her ears, and the feel of her warm body was reassuring.

_That tour better end quickly._

* * *

If she curled up real small, no one would see her.

"It's okay."

She felt his hand on her shoulder and looked up tearfully.

"I'm...I'm so sorry," Lily choked out, sniffling and starting to cry again. "I-I-I'm so, so sorry..."

"Oh, Lils..." Damien bent down and suddenly she was wrapped in his arms; safe and warm. "It's not your fault... It's just one of those things..."

Lily clung to him, burying her face in his chest. "I-I should h-h-have known...My Mom can't have anymore...a-a-and I should have _known_ that I wouldn't be able to have any either!" She started to sob again. "I'm so sorry!"

Damien's hold on her tightened. "You're all I need," He muttered, a lone tear rolling down his own cheek. "Children or no children, I love you and...and we're going to get through this."

**Okay, I owe you all a MASSIVE apology! :( I've had exams, homework, personal issues...I haven't had any time to think, let alone write :/ But now I'm on Easter holidays for two and a half weeks! :D Hopefully I can write to make up for it!**

**Review please!**


	8. When Life is Unfair

When Life is Unfair

Mavis didn't think it particularly fair, the way that things had worked out; that _she_ screwed up and made a bad decision...and yet it was Lily - who was a result of that decision - that didn't get to live long. That, even after years, there continued to be consequences - she wasn't allowed to forget how blind she'd been, how senseless and stupid.

Even months after the baby had been born, Mavis would stay up while everyone else was asleep and just watch Lily sleep. She would whisper apologies - it was all her fault, a baby didn't deserve this - and make sure that her youngest was as safe as can be.

When Lily became a rather cheeky and talkative toddler a couple of years in, she looked happy enough; she was spoilt rotten, after all. In fact, if you had watched the family for days at a time, they would have seemed like your normal and average family - completely happy and content. But deep down, they all had their cracks, their worries and doubts.

The first time Mavis realized it had actually affected the kids badly was when Mina woke up screaming after a scary dream. Johnny, being her favourite, had gone to comfort her until she fell asleep again; ten minutes later, he had walked back into his and Mavis' bedroom with a rather worried look on his face.

"What is it?"

Johnny gulped. "She...It was about Lily."

Mavis swallowed the lump in her throat, feeling quite nauseous all of a sudden: she didn't dare ask the exact details of this dream, frightened that she would have the same nightmare - she was already having infrequent nightmares every so often, and she didn't want to tempt another one to appear.

The older two weren't spared either; Mavis had heard Lucy muttering in her sleep about saving someone - the words 'don't touch her' and 'my sister' gave it away immediately - and then Jack...well, Jack _appeared _to be handling it better than his sisters, but both of his parents had seen him shed a tear a few times when looking at pictures depicting how fast she had grown.

"It's not fair," Jack muttered, resting his head on Mavis' shoulder when she finally confronted him about it. "There's all those evil people out there that'll get to live for hundreds of years...they'll continue to harm or kill... But Lily doesn't even get a century with us. She's...Mom, she didn't do anything wrong..."

Mavis sighed, wrapping an arm around him. "I know."

"Are you sure w-we can't do anything?" Jack asked, a small amount of hope in his voice. "I mean, maybe there's some kind of method out there...I could find it for us..."

The look on his mother's face immediately stopped him.

"There's... You've already looked, haven't you?"

Mavis gave a nod, not looking him. "Your Grandpa's been looking since she was born...the only option is to see if she might change if we bite her, but...but I can't do that to her..."

"And it's unlikely it would work," Her son finished, sighing to himself. "Her immune system would reject the change." He hesitated before continuing. "Perhaps...if we _didn't_ make her a _vampire_ but...but still a monster... I mean, what about making her a Stein or a werewolf?"

She shook her head. "No, Jack; it doesn't exactly work like that. Your Grandpa's told me that we're the only monsters who can...well...change humans if need be."

Jack looked horrified and immediately burrowed back into his mother's embrace. "I-I-It's not fair!" She heard him start to cry.

Mavis had to hold back her own tears as she hugged him; it really wasn't fair, was it?

* * *

After Madame Bellemont's kind offer of dance lessons, Lily had gone back downstairs to tell her siblings and Dracula (or anyone who would listen) and left her parents to themselves once more.

Johnny was happily fixing up the bed that had been destroyed in the pillow fight he and Mavis had had before while his wife went to the bathroom quickly when his mind started to wander.

_Hmm...she kinda has been in a bad mood lately, _He thought bemusedly. _Heh, I haven't her like this since before-_

He stopped, dropping the pillow he was holding as he realized; the last time she'd been like this had been when she'd been pregnant with Lily (both times, thinking on it) and she hadn't wanted to tell him. But...no...it wasn't possible. Johnny was sure that he'd been told that Mavis had been so badly affected from having Lily that having other kids was out of the window.

_But what if?_

Mavis re-entered the bedroom at that moment and sent him an amused grin. "Having a bit of trouble, Johnny? It's only a bed."

As she moved to pick it up, he could only stare at her; her stomach didn't look any rounder, and he was sure that he would have noticed something like cravings or sickness throughout the day...but maybe this one was different...

"Johnny?"

Johnny was jolted out of his thoughts, only able to stare at her. "We...but...you...what..."

Mavis frowned at him. "Are you...feeling okay? 'Cause you look like you're gonna faint or something..."

The red-head just continued to look baffled for a moment. "You're not..." He swallowed. "You're not...like...pregnant, are you?"

She looked offended and glared at him. "No! Of course not! Why?! Are you saying I look fat?"

_Ah crap._ "No," He assured her quickly, putting a hand on her shoulder to keep her calm. "It's just that you're being...weird lately, and moody...it's just that the last time was 'cause of...you know..."

The hurt look on Mavis' face was wiped immediately and replaced with a sad one. "Oh." She sighed and sat down on the half-made bed, gesturing for him to do the same. "I guess it's only fair I tell you..."

Johnny sat down, looking at her curiously. Whatever it was, it didn't sound like this would be a nice conversation.

"The thing is..._I_ thought I was," She admitted, looking down at her hands. "I thought that maybe...just maybe...I could still have kids. That things could be normal..." She gave a small, almost inaudible sniffle. "I'm not. I saw someone a few days ago - some kind of nurse who was staying - and she took a look. She did a big, full-out examination." She wiped at her eyes with the back of her right hand. "I'm not, a-a-and now I _know_ I never will..."

"Oh, Mavy," Johnny murmured, his heart breaking for her.

"I'm sorry," She continued tearfully, not looking at him. "I guess...I guess that's it then...we can't have anymore, a-a-and it's all my fault..." She shook her head, giving into her tears and covering her face with her hands. "I-I-It's so unfair!"

Johnny wrapped his arms around his wife, a sole tear rolling down his own cheek. "It's okay, Mavy...well, it's _not_ okay..." He took a deep breath, running a hand down her back. "It's not your fault; don't blame yourself. Besides, we've had, like, a ton, right? _Four_. Man, that's pretty impressive." He leaned in, making sure to let her know he meant everything he said. "You know, I don't love you just because you have kids with me."

She let out a small, wet chuckle. "I-I know..."

"Even if we hadn't had any kids," Johnny continued, talking more into her hair now. "I'd have been totally cool with that; as long as I had you, everything would have been alright." He paused. "Although, I'm glad that we _do_ have kids, 'cause they're all so awesome."

Mavis nodded into his shoulder. "Me too." She took a deep breath, arms tightening around him. "I love you, you know."

"I love you too," Johnny muttered back, closing his eyes to enjoy the hug.

It was still early in the night, and everyone else was pre-occupied with other matters - there was no need to separate from each other just yet.

* * *

"Well...Lucy and I are having a baby!"

No. No. _No._

"Congratulations!" Al shouted, giving his nephew a punch on the shoulder. "I didn't know you had it in you, Freddo!"

"That's awesome, sis!" Jack yelled, kissing her cheeks. "When's it due?"

Lucy smiled, putting a hand on her still-flat stomach. "Not until February - I've got to put up with it during Christmas."

This was not happening...no higher power could have been this cruel, this _sadistic_...

"Man," Johnny muttered - but he grinned nonetheless as he embraced his daughter and son-in-law. "I'm not old enough to be a grandpa!... Meh, who cares?! A kid is a kid! That's great, guys!" He kissed his eldest on the forehead and she laughed, leaning into his hug.

Mina gave an excited squeal. "Yay! I'm gonna be an auntie! Freddie, Freddie, can I be the favourite auntie?"

A hand appeared on Lily's shoulder, and the voice she recognized to be Damien's said, "Lily-"

Lily didn't want to hear it: she didn't want to hear that she should be happy for her sister, that she had to put her own wants and needs away, that her own sister was getting the things she wanted to easily. She didn't want to listen to the congratulations that the family would give to her sister, not when she wanted it to be her. Without a word, she stood up and ran from the room.

Immediately, the family fell silent - only Damien didn't look shocked, and he sighed as he ran a hand through his hair.

He felt a small tug on his trousers and looked down; Mina, who was still tiny even though she was nearing her teenage years, was staring up at him inquisitively. "What's the matter with my sister?" She demanded to know, giving him a hard look - clearly, she was still very much the 'big sister'.

Damien sighed again and looked around at his zing's family awkwardly. "It's just that...well...she's been a bit..." He gave a groan. "Fuck it. We want kids and we can't have them because of what happened to her when she was born."

Everyone in the room gaped at each other in horror; Mavis looked extremely guilt-ridden as she collapsed back onto the couch, Johnny immediately rushing to rub soothing circles on her knuckles with his thumb and whisper reassurances.

Lucy stepped forwards, looking completely mortified. "You mean...and I..." When he nodded she gave a gasp. "God... She must hate me after tonight..."

Freddie put an arm around her. "She won't, Lu; it's not your fault that..." He trailed off, lost for words.

Jack looked down at the floor, putting his hands in his pockets. "Christ," He muttered under his breath. "That's just...Christ."

"I'm the worst sister ever," Lucy stated tearfully, shaking her head as she sat down. "Here we are, going on and on about having a baby - and then Lily can't have one, and we've been _bragging_ about it nearly." She bit her lip and glared down at her lap. "I was complaining about having to deal with it during Christmas! I'm such an idiot!"

"How were you meant to know?" Al said gently, looking rather surprised himself. "She never said anything, Lucy. It's not your fault."

Meanwhile, none of them had noticed that Mina had disappeared from the room to go and search for her sister; it didn't take long for her to realize that Lily had gone outside and was sitting on the ground beneath a nearby tree. The child cautiously made her way outside, being careful not to mess up her dress, and tentatively moved in closer.

She cleared her throat. "Lily? It's me."

Lily turned away from her, burying her head in her knees. "Go away."

Mina moved in closer, taking tiny footsteps so as to not alarm her. "I know why you're sad," She stated innocently, sitting down next to the human on the grass and starting to pick at the green blades. "It's okay - kids are boring and they smell anyway."

Lily lifted and shook her head. "No, Mina. You wouldn't understand..."

Mina sighed, frowning and crossing her arms across her chest. "I'm sorry that you can't have kids, Lily. You'd have made a great Mom." She put a hand on her sister's leg comfortingly. "Everything's going to be okay in the end, you know."

Lily snorted. "Oh yeah? And what makes you think that?"

"Because things are always okay in the end for nice people," The child said simply, as if it were obvious. "Like, when Mom and Dad were sad because you went to Heaven before...but you came back and made them happy." She paused. "You made us all happy."

Lily gave a sniffle, rubbing at her eyes. "M-Mina? Could I...Could you maybe...give me a hug?"

Mina nodded and wrapped her arms around her sister; for the first time in the little vampire's life, she realized that this was the first time that she actually fully understand just how unfair the whole situation was.

**Welp. Angst. I like angst.**

**Review please!**


	9. Babies

Babies

Put simply, Jack was not at all fond of babies.

It wasn't as if he hated them with a burning passion or anything - no, he just...he couldn't put up with them for long. They were irritating, noisy, and to top it all off: they smelled funny.

The first time that this was apparent was when Mina had been born; he'd disliked her intently, refusing to spend any time with her or their parents as revenge. Part of it had been because he was no longer the youngest - that all of the attention was going to someone else - but he'd come to learn that babies were something that he wouldn't want to waste his time with _ever_.

When Mina got a little older and didn't cry so much (and was toilet trained too), then he had come to like her a little bit more - after all, he was her brother; there was an age-old agreement that brothers were protectors of little sisters, that they were strong but sometimes irritating to them. And, as time passed, he'd come to like Mina more and more.

He hadn't been expecting _another_ sibling to come along.

While Jack tried to be mindful that Lily was a baby, and that she couldn't help it, it didn't stop him from being pissed off whenever she woke him up during the day, or when she started crying while he was trying to read.

And he certainly didn't like his studies being interrupted so that he could keep an eye on her.

"It's only for a couple of hours, Jack," Lucy told him impatiently, passing their baby sister to him. "Besides I'm taking Mina with me - that's two sisters off your back."

He gave an annoyed sigh in protest. "Mom and Dad put _you_ in charge, Lu; _you_'re meant to be baby-sitting, not me!"

"I know," She said quickly, rolling her eyes impatiently. "But I'm busy tonight so...so...so you're in charge of Lily for now."

"Busy?!" He asked incredously. "What do you mean by 'busy'?! You're only going on a date with your boyfriend - you're not busy at all!"

Lucy let out an irritated noise. "Look, just do it! I'll be back before Mom and Dad - I'll only be a couple of hours - so you can still go back to your reading or whatever, okay?...And it's not just for _me_ see him! Mina wants to see him as well!" Before he could protest, she morphed into a bat and started to fly away. "You need to grow up, Jack."

_I need to grow up?! She's the one dumping our baby sister on me!_

Jack looked down at Lily nervously; she peered up at him with wide brown eyes. "Err...so..." _What am I meant to do with her?_ "Are you hungry?" He asked quickly, using the first thing to come into his head. "Maybe I can make you that human stuff that Dad feeds you."

Of course, saying something and doing it are completely different matters; it soon became apparent that Jack had no idea what he was meant to do with the tin marked 'Baby Formula', even after reading the instructions on the label, so he put it back and tried to figure something else out.

"Right," He muttered to himself; Lily was staring at him expectantly from her high chair at the table, waiting for him to do something. "You know what I can make you? Milk. How about a bottle of milk?"

She just blinked at him.

"Here, I'll get you some milk," Jack decided, quickly going over to the fridge to grab some. "Let's see... I swear Mom told me that babies don't like it cold, so...so we've got to make this hot somehow..."

_I really have no clue what I'm doing_. For all of his knowledge and reading experience, he couldn't figure out how to take care of a baby.

He poured some milk into a baby's bottle and put the top of it on before staring at it dumbly. "Need to make it warm..." His eyes wondered over to the sink: it was still full of warm water used from the washing up that evening. "Well, not too hot, not too warm; that's gotta be right." He placed the bottle in the hot water, holding it upright so that no milk was lost and decided to wait a few minutes. "So..."

Lily just continued to look at him, brown eyes wide and head tilted.

"I've never made a bottle before," He stated, as if it were necessary to explain himself. "Uhh... It seems warm enough now, so...so let's see if this works." He took the bottle out of the warm water in the sink and walked over to his baby sister. "Let's see...do I have to hold you or can I just shove it in there?"

_What the hell am I saying? Of course I can't just do that!_

To his surprise, Lily simply reached over and grabbed the bottle from his hands before placing the teat in the mouth; she managed to lift the bottle up somewhat and gave a happy gurgle when she achieved to drink some milk.

"Well then," Jack muttered to himself, stunned almost. "That's that I gue-"

He was cut off when the bottle fell to the floor; luckily, since it was plastic, it didn't smash - but it still made a rather loud noise as it hit the kitchen floor. Seconds later, it was clear that Lily didn't like the loss of her bottle - and she started to wail loudly.

"Shoot," Jack gritted out, bending down to pick up the bottle hurriedly. "Come on, Lils, stop that; look, the bottle's right here! Come on, you can still drink it..." He tried to force the teat back into her mouth but this just made the baby cry more and wriggle away from him.

After another minute and a half of trying to give back the bottle but failing, the teen-aged vampire gave up and put it on the table - he was really very nervous now. He'd never been left alone with Lily while she was crying, and he had no clue what he had to do to get her to stop.

Biting his lip, Jack bent down so that he was level with his sister and lifted her from her high chair. "Okay, I get it, Lily. You can stop crying now..." She continued to cry as he rocked her on the spot awkwardly. "How about...How about I sing you a lullaby or something?"

Unfortunately, Jack hadn't inherited his mother's singing skills - or, rather, he'd never intended to practice it at all in his life.

Unable to do much else, Jack gave a groan. "Why did Mom and Dad have to have another kid?... Actually, no... When Lucy gets home from the hotel, I'm gonna tear into her for doing this to me...stupid Lucy and her stupid boyfriend..."

_Lord, does she not stop crying?! Okay, think Jack...Let's see, whenever Mina starts to cry we give her that Martha-bat...Maybe if I give Lily a toy to cuddle she'll stop._

Setting off quickly to Mina's room (after all, she was bound to have the most stuffed animals in the house), he ran through the toys that he knew his sister to have in his head; which one would she even want to cuddle? Something told him that skeleton dollies weren't the normal playthings for humans - besides, what kind of toy would actually shut a baby up?

"Okay...you sit on Mina's bed for a moment," Jack muttered, putting Lily down on her back on the freshly made bed and quickly looking around for a toy that he could take without his other sister noticing. "Mina...How many toys do you need in here?"

Sighing, he started to sort through a few stuffed werewolves (courtesy of their Uncle Wayne and Auntie Wanda) and a rather creepy-looking gremlin doll lying on the floor (why the heck would a girl in her thirties want such a scary toy?!); surely no one in their right mind would want to give a child any of these, let alone a tiny baby.

"Ooh!"

Jack spun around; he hadn't noticed that Lily had stopped crying and instead taken up giggling...and he saw why moments later.

"Crap." He moved forwards slowly, eyes trained on his little sister carefully. "Lily...that's Mina's Martha-bat. You can't have that, okay? It's her special toy." Lightly, he started to tug it from her hand.

Lily immediately let out a noise of protest, eyes watering again. "Ngho!" She wrapped her arms tighter around the bat. "Ngho Ngho, Ja-ck!"

Jack knew he had to do something before his sisters got home (which he sort of hoped was soon, because he really couldn't take this anymore): while Mina was a very friendly and loving person...well, no one messed with her and Martha-bat. Jack had seen other children - some actually _older_ than Mina - at the hotel running away crying because they'd dared to pick up the bat toy without permission in front of the little dark-haired vampire.

If she could make kids cry, what the hell could she do to a baby with sticky fingers and who dribbled?

"Okay," Jack said slowly, trying to come up with a plan in his head. "Tell you what: you can have it until you fall asleep, but then I'll have to give it back to Mina." Lily, of course, didn't respond.

Now he had to try and get her to actually take a nap.

It was a couple of hours later that Lucy and Mina arrived home, morphing outside of the house before entering; Mina immediately ran to find Jack and Lily, bouncing with excitement from the latest visit to Hotel Transylvania.

"Jack, Jack! You'll never guess who we met!" She shouted happily, standing on the tips of her toes so that she could reach the door knob to her brother's room. Lucy was close behind, unzipping her jacket and straightening out her clothes. "There was this really _freaky_ monster: she didn't have a face, and she was made of tentacles and... Lucy, I can't reach the door!"

Lucy rolled her eyes and easily opened the door for her.

Mina grinned at her. "Thanks. Anyway... This lady was so creepy 'cause she was dressed in these dresses, and... Jack?"

Both of the sisters looked around their brother's room, surprised; Jack was sprawled out on the middle of his bed, asleep, and snoring quietly to himself. And, right on the middle of his chest, was Lily: she was also spread out, like a little starfish, and had a hand tightly clenched onto Jack's T-shirt.

"Are they dead?" Mina asked, tilting her head to one side.

Lucy smirked to herself. "They're asleep. You know what?"

"What?"

"I really wish that we showed up on cameras right now; I want to take a picture of this so badly and never let him forget it."

* * *

Lily - in short - loved America.

For one thing, her father's side of the family were all Americans; going to the states herself made her feel quite connected with a part of her dad's history - with _her_ history. And then there was the fact that America was just...it was so big! It was different from Romania, she mused, what with all of the business going on; the roads were always full of traffic, boards of ads lit up at night so bright that it was difficult to miss.

Besides travelling around the states, Lily also quite enjoyed being around other humans - after so long of being around monsters (who she did still love) it felt rather refreshing to be around other people who were...well, more like her. The other humans on the tour with the pop star - the other back-up dancers - were pretty and very cool to hang around with too, and Lily soon found that she fit in with them easily.

As for feeling homesick...well, she _did _miss her family and Damien more than she could say. But she kept to her promises; at least half an hour on the phone to her parents and her siblings, and another half an hour on the phone with Damien, who appeared to be missing her quite a lot.

_Well, duh. We're zings, why wouldn't he miss me?_

One evening, Lily was busy preparing backstage before a show with the other dancers; the singer they'd been touring with had disappeared to go and greet her husband (something that made Lily really wish that Damien was there with her), and so all of the women were left to chat as they stretched and warmed up.

"Is it wrong I still feel nervous?" One of the blondes, Alice, asked, toying with the bottom of her leotard - the costume for the first number. "Like, before going out there I mean. 'Cause once I've gone out there it's okay."

Brittany, a tall black girl, shrugged as she checked over her appearance in a mirror. "I don't have time to think of being nervous; I just have to hear that music and everything else kinda falls into place from there." She looked over her shoulder and laughed. "Hey, Jena! Your boy toy sent you _more_ flowers?"

The woman known as Jena - rather petite with shaggy gold hair in a short cut - snorted to herself. "Yup. You'd think that five this week was enough, but apparently not." When the other dancers laughed, she lifted her head up high and shook her head to herself. "At least my guy sends me flowers."

"Your guy is following us around," Brittany retorted. "Besides, _my_ guy has booked a weekend away at a resort for after the tour is over - a private thing, if you know what I mean."

Everyone else, including Lily, giggled like teenage girls at this.

"What about you, Lily?" Alice questioned after a moment. "Do you have a guy?"

"Yeah," Lily answered, nodding her head; her smile decreased just a fraction as she was reminded of how much she missed him. "Damien."

A dark-haired woman - this one called Anna - looked up from her stretches out of interest. "Hey, I remember you saying about having someone... You're from Romania, right? Transylvania?"

"Yeah, that's it."

Jena smirked as she strapped on her high-heeled shoes. "Damien, huh? Sounds like a bad boy to me... My favourite kind of boy."

Lily blushed bright pink. "Well...I wouldn't say that really. He's sweet really..."

"But with a hidden kinky side?" Jena asked bluntly. "No? Come on, I've always thought that guys who are sweet _really_ are the darkest perverts in the bedroom."

The red-head couldn't speak, she was _that_ embarrassed. Luckily, seconds later the singer that they were backing up for - weeks into the tour, and Lily still didn't know her name - came into the room. She was followed by a tall and rather good-looking man with a shaved head...and in the singer's arms was a gurgling baby.

"Holy shit," Jena muttered, eyes wide as she caught sight of it. "Is that yours, Elle?"

_Elle. I've gotta remember that name,_ Lily thought hurriedly.

The singer - Elle - smiled proudly. "Oh yeah. She's come to visit before the show - thought she might like to come and meet you all."

Brittany immediately stepped forwards, tilting her head and cooing at the tiny baby. "She is adorable! How old is she?"

"About twenty months...nearly two now. God, time flies with kids, don't they?"

Lily couldn't help but feel in awe as she looked down at the baby girl; there was something so _beautiful_ and pure about this tiny little person that struck a chord with the red-head... This baby had the widest brown eyes she'd ever seen, which were peering around at everyone in interest. Unlike a vampire baby, this baby was definitely all flesh and blood, even by just looking at her; her cheeks were a bright healthy pink and somewhat chubby but in a cute way.

"...I love singing and all, but, honestly? I can't wait until I can cuddle up with my little baby girl again and relax for a night."

Lily smiled lightly to herself; she was sure that, in the future when she had kids of her own, she'd probably feel the same.

* * *

February was a special month - and the timing of Lucy and Freddie's baby couldn't have been more hilarious if anyone had tried.

Valentine's Day on the fourteenth had not been exactly easy for anyone; by this point, Lucy was about ready to pop and very cranky. As Freddie was worried about her and impending fatherhood, he of course became more clumsy and nervy - this often resulted in more harm than help. Valentine's Day wasn't very romantic that year, thanks to the large swell on Lucy's stomach and the amount of injuries Freddie had sustained from his increased clumsiness. As for everyone around them, it wasn't very fun when one person was cranky and another was prone to injuries every five minutes.

And then the contractions had started half way through the day while everyone was asleep.

It was about eight in the evening when it was all finally over - the screaming, the cursing, the threats - and what had been a rather hormonal and stressful nine months had finally come to a conclusion of something beautiful and innocent.

It was a boy - a healthy, chubby little boy that was soon wrapped in blue blankets and snuggled against his mother's chest.

Everyone came in to visit, of course - well, nearly everyone. Lily didn't come in with the rest of them...and it wasn't difficult to figure out why.

However, half an hour after Dracula, Al, Johnny and Mavis had left to grab something to eat, the door to the room creaked open again; Lucy and Freddie both looked up and saw Lily, who just stood there awkwardly for a moment.

"So," She mumbled, not looking up at her sister. "How...um..."

Freddie looked between the two red-heads and stood up awkwardly. "Maybe I should leave you two alone for a minute? I'll just... You want something to eat, Lu?"

Lucy shrugged, eyes not leaving her younger sister. "Some blood beaters would be nice."

Neither of them spoke until Freddie had left; an awkward silence crept up between the two as they both tried to figure out what they could possibly say.

"So," Lily began again, moving closer to her older sister and trying to make more eye contact. "You're a mom now? Man, that's scary... _You_ as a mom." Lucy gave a small laugh at this, causing Lily to grin as she felt more comfortable. "It seemed like the little sucker would never pop out, you know: you were a pain in the ass for _months_."

"As if you aren't," Lucy shot back good-naturedly.

Lily sat down on the bed, eyes drawn to the bundle in her sister's arms. "So...Freddie said it was a boy. Is that true or did he become delirious and imagine the baby having a penis?"

"Classy," The older red-head rolled her eyes. "But yes. It's a boy."

"Right..." The human paused, hesitating before continuing on. "Does he have a name yet?"

Lucy nodded, smiling down at her baby again. "Yes. We were thinking 'Charlie' if it was a boy - Freddie's Dad was called Charles, but that's such a...well, it's kind of old-fashioned, so we agreed on Charlie instead."

Lily tilted her head and took a deep long look at the baby. "Huh. Yeah... I like it, if that makes any difference." Lucy grinned in thanks and even Lily managed to smile lightly. "He's gorgeous, Lu. Congratulations on having him."

Although there was definitely no spite behind what she'd said, it was clear to Lucy that Lily was somewhat resentful - it didn't take a genius to figure out why either. She sighed, giving her sister a sorry look. "Thanks," She mumbled. "I...well... If it makes you feel any better, Lils..." She took a deep breath. "You'd have made a really good Mom."

Lily smiled bitterly. "Yeah, right. Guess we'll never know, will we?"

"That's not true," Lucy insisted quietly, not wanting to wake the baby up. "I mean, there's so much you and Damien could do, right? There's always the chance that it _might_ happen naturally, a-a-and if it doesn't...well then maybe you could always...you know."

The human looked down at her lap, trying to hide the fact that there were tears in her eyes. "We've talked about it, but he's said that the only person he'd ever want to have a baby with is me; there's no way he'd just have a baby with another person, however nice they are."

"I guess that's understandable," Lucy admitted, feeling much worse about the whole thing; what was she meant to say now?

Luckily, Lily fidgeted and continued to talk. "Could I hold him? I won't steal him from you or anything, I swear."

"Of course," Lucy said sincerely - it was the least she could do, letting her sister hold a baby of some kind.

As her sister took her son into her arms carefully, Lucy could only watch with a sinking heart; there was no doubt about Lily being a good mother, judging by how much thought she was putting into holding him correctly, how much love there was in her eyes at seeing a tiny little being.

She could only hope that, one day, her sister got what she wanted because she honestly deserved it.

**Hey again my friends! So, I feel compelled to tell you the following information:**

**1. My GCSE exams (important ones that determine my college place next year) are on Monday 12th May until Tuesday 17th June. During this period, I highly doubt that I will be updating at all since I'd really like to concentrate on revising. **

**2. I'm very stressed at the minute; my dad is putting pressure on me to get a job, I have to finish the school yearbook soon, I have to do all my homework, revise for all of my exams and to top it all off, I'm dealing with a mental illness :/ **

**3. While not important to you, I have a fundraiser tomorrow (Friday) that I'm dancing in; it's to raise money so that we can continue to use the dance studios in this building we've been using, so I've been rehearsing for that.**

**But as soon as my exams are all finished, I promise I'll be updating more often from 17th June onwards. **

**I just want to say thank you to everyone standing by this story despite all of the shit that's going on with it because it really does mean a lot to me as a writer.**

**Thanks and please review if you can!**


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